Wednesday, 31 January 2018

DC Editor Adam writes…Tomorrow sees the 5th anniversary of The Shard's official opening. Happy Birthday!Doing a little digging in the archive I came across these shots taken by LW's David Tucker at a special preview event back in January 2013…

A
London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your
guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all
London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.

As discussed earlier in this series, what I
need from a step counter is something that can be switched on AND off.

I want
to measure the individual routes of my London Walks – I'm curious about the
health benefits for starters. But I'm sometimes asked at the start of my tours,
"How far will we be walking?" I just think that being able to reply,
"1.37 miles/2.2 Kilometers," is a better answer than "Oh, not
very far."

Besides, it's handy info for a London tour
guide to have at his fingertips – time and distance stats.

Map My Walk is as fancy or as simple as you
want it to be.

It has GPS mapping facilities and a setting to play your
favourite music while walking. There are a number of features that can be
"unlocked" by paying for the premium app - such as weather conditions
– but the app works perfectly well on the basic, free download.

Each individual walk - or workout as its
termed in the app – can be recorded, stored and shared to social media if you
so choose. The stats are presented really clearly.

The only thing preventing me from ditching
my current app of choice, iSteps, is familiarity. My current app works well and
is easy to use. But if the developers of iSteps were ever to abandon the app
again - as they did for a period last year, rendering it useless with the new
OS – then this would be my first stop for a substitute.

Versatility is the Key

Reasons for adopting this one as your first
step counter? In a word, versatility. The basic features are great and there's
the option to get your tech geek on with the Premium features should you so
choose.

Monday, 29 January 2018

DC Editor Adam writes…Hate to say told-ya-so, but you've really got to take care with that data, guys.As regular Daily Constitutionalists and London Walkers will know, I've been road-testing step counters and fitness trackers this January. I was interested to see this story in The Guardian…

"Sensitive information about the location
and staffing of military bases and spy outposts around the world has been
revealed by a fitness tracking company.

The details were released by Strava in a
data visualisation map that shows all the activity tracked by users of its app,
which allows people to record their exercise and share it with others.

The map, released in November 2017, shows
every single activity ever uploaded to Strava – more than 3 trillion individual
GPS data points, according to the company. The app can be used on various
devices including smartphones and fitness trackers like Fitbit to see popular
running routes in major cities, or spot individuals in more remote areas who
have unusual exercise patterns."

What was it about the Human app that made me sit up and question the whole business? The answer is that its great strengths were its own undoing.

The Human app started to make me feel a little uneasy because it mapped – in a beautifully well-designed and accessible way – all my movements. It then stored and presented those movements - again, in a beautifully well-designed and accessible way. Anyone stealing or hacking your device has a literal map to your door PLUS a timetable of the hours when you are most commonly away from home. Read the full post here: londonwalkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/walkingapps

Tomorrow I'll post my review of the Map My Walk app.

Read my reviews so far of all the step count apps I've road-tested so far in 2018…

The Monday Photoblog!DC Editor Adam writes…Monday is mute on The Daily Constitutional (well, almost mute) – because Monday is the day when we post five images captured in and around London by London Walks Guides and London Walkers.Collated on a theme or an area, if you've got some great shots of our capital and want to join in send your pictures to the usual address.It was a glorious day to be out-and-about in London on Friday - sunshine and blue skies for the last weekend in January. It was the perfect day for one of my big rambles (it will be the subject of a Big Walk Wednesday post very soon) and part of my day was spent on the Regent's Canal…

Word On the Water, the floating bookshop near King's Cross

Sunshine on the water - blue skies in January

Good advice

It was great to bump into the fundraising team from Canal & River Trust along the way. They were handing out these dinky maps to canal users…

… and raising awareness for their drive to sing-up new Friends of the Canal & River Trust.Find out all about becoming a friend here…